The Shadow Manipulator

Chapter 39: No Poaching!

I quietly crept towards the source of the irregular energy.

What's this?! I asked myself as I stared at the peculiar phenomenon.

It wasn't Master Ryu. Instead, I found a bunch of summoned beasts, namely kappas and river lobsters, trapped inside an invisible barrier.

I circled around the barrier while observing and scrutinizing it. Theres no doubt about it! This is a work of an Irregular! I concluded. But what kind of irregularity is it? Is it some kind of trap irregularity or a force-field type like Yume's? I could feel a strong amount of irregular energy infused in this barrier. The source must be nearby.

"Hikari?! What are you doing here?!" Someone worriedly whispered behind me.

"Master Ryu..."

"Ssshh! I was about to go back and give a report to your dad, but I decided to observe this for a moment." Master Ryu explained. "Whoever set this trap must be a member of the organization the Blue Fire was talking about."

I glanced towards the cleverly built trap once again as I thought about the illegal poaching that the Blue Fire reported to us. I mean, summoned beasts have the potential to have their own owner and to fight side by side with them. It's not right for them to end up in some sort of black market where they're put on display for no-good people to buy them. I told myself. "Master Ryu, I'll stay as a lookout from here while you go and report to my dad. If someone picks up these summoned beasts, I'll go and follow them inconspicuously while I wait. I won't engage in combat unless discovered." I assured Master Ryu.

"Yeah, I should probably do that. You  stay here while I report to your dad. I think they need to know about this as soon as they can so we could formulate some kind of plan before the organization gets away." Master Ryu responded. "Make sure you leave some faint traces of your irregular energy while following them so I would be able to pinpoint your location. Don't worry, it won't take me long to report and get back here. We'll rendezvous as fast as I can the moment i finished reporting everything to your dad."

Shifting to his shadow form, Master Ryu slowly glided towards the direction of my Dad and his group's whereabouts. However, he had not traveled a few meters yet when he reverted back to his human form and headed towards me. "On second thoughts, I'll stay here and observe with you." He grinned. "I'm not quite confident in you leaving faint tracks of your irregular energy behind since I just taught you that during training. I also don't want to put you in unnecessary danger since the Light Bringer and the Blue Fire might kill me in the process."

"But what about the report?" I asked. "Somebody needs to tell them about this, Master Ryu."

"Oh, about that!" He continued. "I already have something in mind, I think. My half consciousness technique should be able to do the trick while we stay here. I almost forgot that I should use that technique at this moment. It's efficient, and as far as I could remember, I haven't taught you this move yet, I think. It's killing two birds with one stone. keke." He enthusiastically said.

Half-Consciousness!

After muttering half consciousness under his breath, Master Ryu was able to separate himself from his shadow, I mean, he was able to separate his shadow from himself (It's too hard to explain!). In any case, the shadow then glided towards where Master Ryu was headed a moment ago. I concluded that the shadow will be the one reporting rather than Master Ryu. It looked really weird and interesting since Master Ryu doesn't have a shadow anymore. 

I immediately did a mental note. If I ever saw a lost shadow coming from out of nowhere, it's safe to conclude that it's a shadow manipulator and not a ghost playing tricks on someone. I told myself.